CORPORATE OFFICE

Level 1
32 Oxford Terrace
Telephone:  0064 3 364 4160
Christchurch Central

Fax:  0064 3 364 4165
CHRISTCHURCH 8011

[email address]

5 March 2018

Antony Andrews

Email: [email address] ;

Dear Antony,

RE Official information request CDHB 9775

I refer to your Official Information Act request seeking the following information under section 12 of the
Official Information Act from Canterbury DHB.

1.  Bed occupancy rates at the public hospital/hospitals from July 2007 to June 2016. Please note that I would
like monthly data on this. However, if monthly data  is not  available, please specify the reason. If monthly
data is unavailable, the next preference will be quarterly data, if quarterly is not available then I will accept
half-yearly. Furthermore, as last resort yearly data. I am also willing to accept data on bed occupancy rates at
random intervals within a year.

In Canterbury we take a whole of system approach to the delivery of healthcare.  This involves primary
and  secondary/tertiary  care  providers  working  together  with  St  John  and  other  non-government
agencies,  in  a  collaborative  partnership.    As  a  result  of  this  approach,  appropriate  patient  flow  has
continued  to  improve  to  cope  with  growing  volumes,  allowing  us  to  better  manage  our  acute  bed
occupancy within the available constrained number of beds.  This was not always the case prior to our
adoption of a comprehensive whole of system approach.

Continuous management of hospital bed occupancy through twice daily meetings ensures strategies are
actively  implemented.    Escalation  strategies  aims  to  reduce  pressure,  minimalising  the  need  for
emergency measures.

Fifteen minute updates of our major hospitals’ (Christchurch, Christchurch Women’s, Burwood,
Ashburton, Hillmorton and PMH) bed occupancy is widely displayed and available on the Canterbury
DHB Intranet, helping to make issues visible and enabling early management.  The daily meetings allow
effective system-wide capacity and resource management.

Managing hospital occupancy is a complex interaction of physical capacity, staffing demand, length of
stay and flow; mobilising more staff is one possible strategy to manage high occupancy, but is only one
component of managing effective bed utilisation and ensuring good patient care.
Please  refer  to  Appendix  1  (attached)  for  bed  occupancy  rates  (monthly)  data  for  Canterbury  DHB
hospitals from July 2013 to 31 January 2018.  Please note: We only have reliable data since July 2013.

To provide viable data prior to this e.g. to go back to 2007 would require a substantial amount of work
and we are declining to do this under section 18(f) of the Official Information Act.

If you disagree with our decision to withhold information you may, under section 28(3) of the Official
Information Act, seek an investigation and review of our decision from the Ombudsman.

Please note that this response, or an edited version of this response, may be published on the
Canterbury DHB website.

I trust that this satisfies your interest in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Carolyn Gullery
General Manager
Planning, Funding & Decision Support

CDHB 9775 Appendix 1 Table one:

Average Actual Occupied Beds
Average Physical Capacity Beds

TPMH

Burwood
Christchurch
Specialist
Hospital
Hospital
Mental
Ashburton

Health
Hospital
Surgical.
(Medical
Services.
Christchurch -

Hillmorton
Christchurch
Rehabilitation.  (including
Older
Hillmorton
TPMH -
Resourced
Medical.
Hospital.
- Physical
Older Persons
Women’s &
Persons
Ashburton -
Burwood -
- Patients
Patients
Occupancy
Surgical.

Hillmorton
TPMH
Occupancy
Year/month
Health (from
Childrens).
Health
Ashburton  Burwood(2)  Christchurch
Physical
Physical
Under
Under
(Excludes Day
Maternity.
Specialist
Hospital
(2)
(Excludes
2016).
Surgical
(until
Occupancy
Occupancy
Care
Care
Wards, ICU,
Emergency
Mental
Day
Older Persons
(including
2016).
Occupancy  Occupancy  Paeds,
and Older
Health.
Wards)(3)
Mental Health
Women’s &
Older
Womens)
Persons
(from 2016).
Childrens).
Persons
Health
Maternity
Maternity.
Mental
(until 2016).
Emergency.
Health
(until
2016).
31/07/2013
29
86
Note (1)
148
197
60
150
Note (1)
148
202
48.4%
57.3%
Note (1)
100.1%
97.4%
Note (1)
31/08/2013
37
87
Note (1)
160
201
60
150
Note (1)
148
202
61.5%
57.7%
Note (1)
108.4%
99.4%
Note (1)
30/09/2013
39
86
Note (1)
158
199
60
150
Note (1)
148
202
64.2%
57.2%
Note (1)
106.9%
98.4%
Note (1)
31/10/2013
32
84
598
149
199
60
150
630
148
202
54.0%
56.1%
95.0%
100.9%
98.3%
Note (1)
30/11/2013
32
83
600
144
194
60
138
637
148
202
52.6%
59.9%
94.2%
97.3%
96.1%
94.1%
31/12/2013
30
72
553
146
180
60
137
637
148
202
50.2%
52.7%
86.8%
98.4%
89.2%
92.9%
31/01/2014
26
68
540
156
182
60
137
637
148
202
43.5%
49.5%
84.8%
105.2%
89.9%
90.2%
28/02/2014
29
91
576
154
188
60
137
637
148
202
48.4%
66.4%
90.5%
104.3%
92.9%
92.7%
31/03/2014
28
82
598
150
185
60
137
637
148
202
46.0%
60.1%
94.0%
101.1%
91.8%
92.2%
30/04/2014
32
82
599
152
190
60
137
637
148
202
52.7%
59.5%
94.0%
102.7%
94.3%
91.5%
31/05/2014
35
90
597
154
192
60
137
637
148
202
57.7%
65.7%
93.7%
103.9%
94.9%
90.8%
30/06/2014
34
94
627
147
195
60
137
637
148
202
57.3%
68.5%
98.5%
99.6%
96.5%
94.2%
31/07/2014
30
82
624
156
191
63
157
669
146
202
48.1%
52.1%
93.3%
106.9%
94.6%
95.4%
31/08/2014
29
79
618
152
193
63
157
670
146
202
46.7%
50.1%
92.2%
104.2%
95.4%
96.2%
30/09/2014
30
75
631
156
192
63
157
670
146
202
47.6%
47.5%
94.1%
106.7%
95.0%
95.9%
31/10/2014
33
82
583
161
189
63
157
670
146
202
51.8%
52.5%
87.0%
110.3%
93.8%
93.4%
30/11/2014
30
88
557
159
179
63
157
670
146
202
47.7%
56.3%
83.1%
109.2%
88.8%
90.5%
31/12/2014
26
78
545
151
182
63
157
670
146
205
41.7%
49.5%
81.4%
103.5%
89.0%
90.3%
31/01/2015
24
69
550
152
191
63
157
670
146
205
37.7%
44.1%
82.1%
104.0%
93.2%
89.5%
28/02/2015
27
77
560
146
204
63
157
670
146
205
42.5%
49.1%
83.6%
100.0%
99.6%
92.0%
31/03/2015
31
81
574
149
197
63
157
670
146
205
49.1%
51.3%
85.6%
102.1%
96.3%
89.5%
30/04/2015
31
73
565
144
188
63
156
670
146
205
48.4%
46.7%
84.4%
98.4%
91.5%
88.5%
31/05/2015
33
74
589
142
183
63
156
670
146
205
52.9%
47.7%
87.9%
97.1%
89.4%
89.4%
30/06/2015
36
81
630
149
187
63
155
670
146
205
57.4%
52.6%
94.0%
102.3%
91.0%
94.7%
31/07/2015
39
85
620
144
191
63
149
667
142
205
61.6%
57.3%
93.0%
101.5%
93.2%
94.5%
31/08/2015
38
85
613
147
198
63
149
661
142
205
59.9%
56.8%
92.8%
103.4%
96.7%
93.9%
30/09/2015
34
85
634
148
198
63
149
661
142
202
54.2%
56.8%
95.9%
104.5%
98.0%
94.6%
31/10/2015
35
74
563
156
184
63
149
661
142
202
55.7%
49.8%
85.2%
109.8%
91.1%
90.4%
30/11/2015
36
82
586
154
184
63
149
667
142
202
56.9%
55.0%
88.0%
108.5%
91.2%
92.2%
31/12/2015
30
72
561
151
176
63
149
667
142
202
48.3%
48.3%
84.2%
106.4%
87.0%
92.3%
31/01/2016
30
63
535
144
172
63
148
667
142
202
47.4%
42.4%
80.2%
101.5%
85.2%
89.8%
29/02/2016
30
76
579
150
175
63
148
667
142
202
47.7%
51.5%
86.9%
105.3%
86.9%
92.2%
31/03/2016
26
69
595
156
182
63
148
664
142
202
41.0%
46.7%
89.6%
109.8%
90.1%
93.7%
30/04/2016
25
74
616
162
190
63
148
666
142
202
38.9%
50.1%
92.6%
114.4%
93.8%
94.7%

31/05/2016
31
90
635
164
193
63
148
667
142
202
49.4%
60.5%
95.2%
115.5%
95.4%
95.1%
30/06/2016
35
154
647
153
113
63
257
667
142
126
56.1%
59.9%
97.0%
107.8%
89.6%
95.5%
31/07/2016
33
205
647
146
54
61
321
667
142
53
54.6%
63.9%
97.0%
102.8%
102.6%
97.0%
31/08/2016
38
215
642
152
55
60
321
667
142
53
63.1%
67.1%
96.2%
107.0%
103.3%
95.7%
30/09/2016
33
211
634
152
61
60
321
667
142
53
55.8%
65.8%
95.1%
106.7%
115.4%
96.4%
31/10/2016
33
203
594
159
57
60
321
667
142
53
54.6%
63.4%
89.1%
112.3%
107.9%
91.6%
30/11/2016
34
205
609
155
53
59
321
667
142
53
57.5%
64.0%
91.3%
109.2%
100.4%
91.5%
31/12/2016
26
195
588
160
58
59
321
667
142
53
44.5%
60.7%
88.1%
112.5%
109.2%
92.6%
31/01/2017
34
188
548
161
54
59
319
667
142
53
56.8%
58.8%
82.1%
113.1%
102.1%
90.4%
28/02/2017
31
206
594
160
50
59
316
667
142
53
52.6%
65.1%
89.1%
112.4%
93.7%
93.7%
31/03/2017
28
210
619
154
51
59
316
667
142
53
48.2%
66.5%
92.7%
108.3%
95.6%
93.6%
30/04/2017
31
211
594
157
57
59
316
667
142
53
52.9%
66.8%
89.0%
110.3%
108.0%
92.8%
31/05/2017
35
219
609
153
54
59
316
667
142
53
58.8%
69.3%
91.4%
107.6%
102.1%
93.5%
30/06/2017
34
223
624
156
54
59
316
668
142
53
57.7%
70.4%
93.4%
110.1%
101.7%
95.4%
31/07/2017
37
225
645
149
52
62
314
667
142
53
60.3%
71.5%
96.7%
104.7%
98.4%
96.2%
31/08/2017
40
231
660
152
55
62
306
667
142
53
64.6%
75.5%
99.0%
107.0%
103.4%
97.3%
30/09/2017
37
228
655
151
56
62
306
667
142
53
60.4%
74.5%
98.2%
106.6%
106.1%
96.9%
31/10/2017
40
209
611
158
52
62
306
667
142
53
65.2%
68.4%
91.6%
110.9%
98.9%
95.9%
30/11/2017
34
211
607
158
56
62
306
667
142
53
54.5%
69.1%
91.0%
111.0%
104.7%
95.1%
31/12/2017
28
192
567
159
60
62
306
667
142
53
45.7%
62.8%
85.1%
112.2%
113.6%
95.8%
31/01/2018
35
196
575
156
56
62
306
667
142
53
56.8%
63.9%
86.2%
109.7%
104.8%
95.8%

Notes:
(1) No reliable data
(2) TPMH/Burwood - June/July 2016 - The majority of services were moved from TPMH to the new Burwood Hospital facility hence the changes in physical beds moving forward.
(3) Excludes maternity (mothers and new born babies) and NICU

Document Outline